Soulmates
by stanaticfanatic
Summary: Very AU. "Where would you like it?" The first words Richard Castle said to Kate Beckett - and also the words that she'd woken up with tattooed on her body on her 18th birthday.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I was on the bus home and saw a post on tumblr that basically said what if on your 18th birthday, you woke up with the first words your soulmate would say to you tattooed on your body so you'd know when you met them. It then had an addition with someone saying 'Kate waking up with "where would you like it" and being really confused.' So, I thought I'd write it!**

**PS: we're assuming Kate didn't go and get her book signed like Sorensen mentioned ;)**

**This chapter will probably be quite short, but if it's well-received then I'll keep it going.**

* * *

It was one of those things. Like how water had no taste..it's just tasted like _water_. There wasn't a real explanation for it, it just happened - on your 18th birthday you woke up with the first words your soulmate would say to you tattooed on your body. It was somewhere hidden; as in covered by everyday clothing, in an attempt to stop anybody trying it on - one tended to assume that at least some words had been exchanged before the other person had the chance to see underneath the clothing.

It was a strange way of going about things but it was all people had ever known. It had been happening for as long as could be remembered, no one could remember a time when it didn't happen. For some, it was exciting - with every new person they met they waited anxiously for what they would say first, wondering if this could be the person they were to spend the rest of their lives with. And if it didn't work out at first - well, they knew it would in the end, once they realised they were the one with the tattoo of their words.

For others, it was a source of absolute torture. Who wanted to go through life, wondering if the next person they met would be 'the one'? And what happened when you got to say, 35 and you still hadn't met that person? What if they'd been killed in a freak accident before they got the chance to meet?

You could be in a relationship with anyone, of course - it might seem silly to some, being a relationship with someone knowing it wouldn't last, but the majority of people didn't want to spend their whole life searching for someone when they didn't know when it would be - it would happen when it happened and that's how children were brought up. They were told to not go searching for love, let love find you. Because like their parents and their parents before that said, it could happen when you we're least expecting it and nothing would ever be the same after that.

It was okay for some, with their less-generic tattoos, things you didn't generally hear as the first words from someone you met - but for Richard Castle, his tattoo said "Mr Castle," and that was it. His name! Of course, given that on his eighteenth birthday when he'd first seen the tattoo, he was a little confused - he was still Rick Rogers at that point, hadn't decided on his pen name and to be fair, he didn't know if the tattoo had encouraged it or if it would have happened whatever the tattoo said, but that's what it said. It had been exciting for him at first, especially once he'd published his books, but the novelty soon wore off - 'Mr Castle' tended to be the first words a lot of people said to him. So he gave up looking, figured the only way he'd ever know if he'd met his soulmate was when he discovered the first words he said to her were tattooed on her body.

Anyway, it wasn't as if his mom was with her soulmate. She said she'd met him - it was his father, but he'd had to leave and she hadn't seen him in over forty years. So what did it matter if you had a soulmate out there somewhere? His mother was proof that it wasn't always a happy ending.

Kate Beckett was one of the luckier ones if you like, she woke up on her eighteenth birthday with the words "where would you like it?" Tattooed on her body, to which she had been thoroughly confused. Who was going to ask her where she wanted something before they even said hello, or said their name? But at least she had more of a chance of knowing than some, imagine having your name or something tattooed on you! You'd spend everyday wondering if the person who had just said your name was your soulmate.

Kate wasn't too bothered either - well her parents had been each other's soul mates and look what had happened. Her mother had been killed when Kate was nineteen and her father had never got over it. She used to catch him sometimes, in the months after her mother died just staring at his tattoo, knowing it had been the words her mother had first spoken to him and knowing he'd never hear her voice again. So she for one wasn't overly bothered about meeting her soulmate - if she didn't then she wouldn't be hurt when it all came crashing down.

And so, as it came to that night at the book launch for Castle's last Derrick Storm novel, he didn't think anything of it when the beautiful brunette said, "Mr Castle," and he didn't think anything of it when she then introduced herself as the police. He didn't even notice the look of shock on her face when he said "where would you like it?"

The second Kate heard those words, she almost turned around and ran straight back out - it couldn't be _him_, could it?

* * *

**A/N: let me know what you think, I know it's crazy and weird but I couldn't get it out of my head! Longer chapters will be up if you enjoyed this, and I'll take it back and do it from their birthdays, when they first got the tattoo and subsequent relationships etc.**

**twitter - holaitsjade | tumblr - stanaabanana**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: wow - so I currently have 24 reviews on chapter one and all 24 of you said to carry this on - so thank you so much for that! Enjoy :) **

* * *

Stepping out of the shower, Castle caught sight of his tattoo in the mirror, the words written on the left hand side of his ribcage - covered if he stood with his arm at his side. He paused for a moment, remembering how upset he'd been when he woke up on his eighteenth birthday with _that_ as the words his soulmate would say to him when they met.

* * *

_"So, what does it say?" Martha asked excitedly as her son entered the kitchen on the morning of his 18th birthday._

_"Good morning to you too, Mother," he grumbled._

_Oo, that wasn't good, that was probably a sign that he had a very ambiguous tattoo. "Oh Richard darling, it can't be that bad!"_

_"It says 'Mr Castle' and that's all. I mean, who the hell even is this Mr Castle person and why is my soulmate going to say that to me the first time we meet?"_

_"You shouldn't worry too much about it," his mother reminded him, "like I've told you for as long as I can remember - you can't sit around waiting for her to show up, you have to live your life as if you don't have that tattoo as a reminder."_

_"But I do," he whined and his mother sighed. She should have know that he would take it this way, forever the hopeless romantic was her son._

_"Trust me, give it a few months and you'll forget it's even there," she told him, "and you can go and fall in love with any girl you want and when the time is right, you'll meet the one. No point waiting for it - she might only be ten years old at the moment, with no clue as to what her tattoo is going to say."_

_Unfortunately, his mother had a point. His soulmate was out there somewhere, but they couldn't very well get together if she was still a child. So he'd wait, go about his life as if he wasn't waiting for someone special and fall in love. He was halfway there anyway - Kyra Blaine her name was, and she was at the same college as him.._

* * *

_Ah, Kyra_, he thought, ripping his eyes away from his tattoo in the mirror. He'd been in love with her and her with him, despite the fact neither of them knew it would ever last - it had been a tricky situation, both of them were so young and neither were really sure how to approach the subject of what their tattoos said. They had, in the end though, well - it was either admit that they weren't each other's soulmates or keep their clothes on around each other permanently - with late teen/early twenties hormones raging, that wasn't happening. He could even remember the way it had played out..

* * *

_"So," he began, shifting awkwardly in his seat. "I um..I'm not really sure what to say.."_

_"Me either," Kyra replied nervously, "aren't you the writer?" She grinned._

_"Supposedly," he muttered. "Look, I don't know what the protocol is here and I'm assuming you don't either?" She shook her head. "And given that neither of us has given any indication that we're each others..you know..I think it's safe to say we're not. Agree?"_

_"Yeah," she said, sounding thoroughly relieved that one of them had finally said it. "So um..what does yours say?" She asked._

_"Mr Castle," he replied stonily._

_"Mr who?"_

_"Exactly. My mother said not to worry and that it will all work out but I don't know how. I don't even know who he is!"_

_"Nope, never heard of him either. But uh..well, I guess I could be searching for a while too.."_

_"Why, what does yours say?" He asked. It hadn't been a subject he'd approached with many people, so he was always interested to hear what others had tattooed on their bodies._

_"'Where's my iPhone?'" She said with a laugh, "what even is an iPhone?"_

_"No idea! God, and I thought having a name was bad.."_

* * *

And the three years they'd had together had been amazing, so much fun and youthful energy that gave them memories neither of them would forget. But, as they had figured it would, it came to an end and they went their separate ways. It was inevitable, really, but it didn't mean it hurt any less. Kyra had been the girl before the books, before the arrogant jackass took over and sometimes he longed for those memories to be reality again.

But, with the books came the reason behind his tattoo - he still to this day would not be able to give a definite answer as to the reasoning for writing his books under 'Castle'. Part of it could be because of the tattoo - well, it was there for a reason wasn't it? And it certainly made sense as to why his soulmate would call him that, if that's who he was known as.

And so that's who he became - Richard Castle. Famous mystery novelist. And if truth be told, that's when he began thinking about his potential soulmate a little more - now that he had established himself amongst certain circles, "Mr Castle" was a very popular greeting for many people - any one of them could have been his soulmate. Every party he went to, every book launch and charity event he attended, there were numerous women he could have been destined to spend the rest of his life with. None of them ever lasted more than a night or two though, and truth be told - once he got them undressed he could usually figure out that he wasn't the one for them.

But then there was Meredith. Just like all the others, they had known all along that it wasn't going to last and they were just having a bit of fun. At that point Castle had given up searching for his soulmate, the novelty of having people call "Mr Castle" when he walked into a room was getting a little old. It was how Meredith had greeted him though, and for a brief period he wondered if she was the one.

* * *

_"Mr Castle," the woman smiled and he was gone. He fell for her charm hook, line and sinker - which was odd, it was usually the other way around, but not this time. Oh no, Meredith had planted herself firmly into his brain - and his heart. She'd even said the words of his tattoo as her first words to him - though that didn't mean much these days, but it was a start and a small glimmer of hope that he wasn't going to give up on, not until he had physical proof that her tattoo didn't say-_

_"Can I buy you a drink?"_

_"I thought you'd never ask," she replied._

* * *

He fell in love with her, faster than was healthy and that was why, when she tearfully announced she was pregnant, he decided to marry her. She had been shocked at first, but once he explained that they couldn't sit around waiting for the ones they were set to be with - especially now they had a child to care for, she agreed. It wouldn't have been fair on their unborn baby for them to not give it the best shot they could.

And so they did. They tried - well, Castle more than Meredith, turned out motherhood wasn't for her and he was left raising a baby when he didn't even know how often she was supposed to be fed. And the day he had come home to find his wife in bed with her director, he knew they were done. It didn't matter that Meredith insisted it was because her director was her soulmate (he didn't believe that), he was over her, putting his daughter first.

He honestly forgot he hadn't met 'her' for a while, raising a baby and writing New York Times bestsellers took up all of his time, no matter how good a kid Alexis was. And then along came Gina, his new publisher. Once again, he thought he might have found the one, the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with, but that had soon become apparent was not the case.

* * *

_"Look, Rick," she had said to him shortly after they had begun dating, "I'm pretty sure I'm not the one you're waiting for and you're not here for me. But I for one am sick and tired of hanging about for something that could come tomorrow or that could come in twenty years."_

_He had tentatively agreed - no matter what he said about not being bothered about finding his soulmate, there was still that tiny bit of hope that one day she would magically appear in his life and turn his world upside down._

* * *

They had married anyway, more a marriage of convenience than one born of love, Gina had told him waiting for their soulmates seemed like too much hard work when you didn't know when the payoff would come. However, as could have been predicted, he and Gina didn't last. They divorced and remained amicable - well, she sort of went off on one when she read he was killing off Derrick Storm but apart from that they got on well enough.

When he thought about it, he'd never actually met anyone he _wanted_ to be with for the rest of his life. There had been women, quite a few women, but none of them were special. If he had to pick one he'd choose Kyra but even without the soulmate thing he knew that wouldn't have ever worked in the long run.

No, there wasn't anyone sticking out as an obvious choice - well, that was until a gorgeous brunette interrupted him at his book party. Oh yes, he could quite easily spend the rest of his life with a woman like that..

* * *

**A/N: thoughts? Next chapter will be similar but all from Kate's point of view. Just in case you hadn't figured, Castle turned 18 in like 1987, no iPhones back then ;)**

**twitter - holaitsjade | tumblr - stanaabanana**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: 117 followers after two chapters - new record for a story of mine ;) thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited!**

* * *

'Where would you like it?' Honestly, Kate literally couldn't believe her eyes when she saw her tattoo on the morning of her eighteenth birthday, it was such a obscure comment for someone to make, and if she was honest she wasn't entirely sure it would be appropriate - not for a first meeting, anyway. That was why, on her birthday, going downstairs to greet her parents, she had kept pretty quiet about it..

* * *

_"Good morning Katie bug!" Her father greeted, "happy birthday to my little princess - all grown up now!"_

_"Morning dad," she smiled back at him._

_"Happy birthday honey," her mom said, "so..what does it say?" She asked excitedly._

_"I don't wanna talk about it," Kate grumbled, especially not with her father in the room._

_"Oh Katie, it's not the end of the world! It can't be that bad, can it?" Her mother asked._

_"I'll tell you later," she muttered. Her and a her mother were very close, she told her everything so she felt a little less awkward announcing the words of her tattoo to her mother - she just wasn't sure she wanted to tell her father. And he seemed to get the picture._

_"Well I'll leave you girls to it then," he said, standing up from the table, "have a good day at school Katie bug and I'll see you for your birthday dinner tonight, okay?"_

_Jim kissed Kate on the top of her head before leaning down to give his wife a kiss goodbye and heading out to work._

_"So?" Her mother pressed._

_"It says 'where would you like it?'" She admitted. "I mean seriously, how many situations could you be in where those are the first words someone says to you?"_

_"Well, he could be talking about..." He mother thought for a moment, "a tattoo!" She said, "I mean another one..he could be asking where you want that.."_

_"I just wish it was something more interesting..like Maddie, hers says 'is this your restaurant?' Which is perfect because you know Maddie, she's wanted to own her own restaurant since she was about four! I wish mine was something like that, like 'are you a lawyer?' Or something..at least then I'd know I was actually going to make it.."_

_"Sweetie, you don't need your tattoo to tell you you're going to make it. You're beautiful and smart and whatever you do, your father and I will be proud of you. Now, you need to forget about the tattoo and live your life. Pretend it's not there and fall in love with whoever you want, things have a way of working out in the end."_

* * *

Thinking back now, she smiled at the memory of the conversation she'd had with her mom on her birthday. It had been just over a year before her mother was killed and she was so glad she'd had her there for that, to tell her she'd do okay anyway, whatever the tattoo said.

She'd followed her moms advice at first, forgetting about the tattoo and living as a teenager should..parties on the weekend, school with her friends during the week. She had a boyfriend at the time, and he didn't seem too bothered about the whole tattoo thing, he was a year older so he knew when they met that she wasn't the one for him but they had fun anyway, breaking it off when she left for Stanford a year after her birthday.

She'd been there for the autumn term, home for the Christmas holidays when her mother was killed and for the next four years, she thought about the tattoo maybe half a dozen times. She was a mess and her father was a mess. She dropped out of college and joined the academy, a relationship the last thing on her mind, never mind finding 'the one'. She had her fair share of one night stands, barely getting to know their name, their tattoos long forgotten, but that soon started to wear off and she grew up. Threw herself into her work, desperate to catch her mothers killer.

The first person who actually made her stop and think for a minute was Mike Royce, her training officer. He was the one person who didn't tell her to stop looking into her mothers case, that she wouldn't find anything but was still there for her when she turned up on his doorstep in tears at 1am because everyone else was right.

At first, he was just her TO and nothing more, but as time went on she realised her feelings ran deeper than that. She knew he wasn't her soulmate but for the first time since turning eighteen, she'd found somebody she wished who was. He was the first person to understand the obsession to drove her to what she did and she fell in love with him without realising it, too wrapped up in her mothers case to take much notice of her own feelings but that's what it was - love.

She might not remember how she managed to fall in love with him, but she knew she'd never forget the day he first broke her heart.

* * *

_"I'm leaving, Beckett."_

_"You're..what?" She asked double checking she had heard him right._

_"Leaving. Out of here. Done. Whatever you want to call it, I'm not a cop anymore." There was a harsh bitterness in his voice, one she had heard on many occasions - but never directed at her._

_"You can't leave!" She said._

_"Why not? I've done what I can here, it's time for someone else to take over. I was debating between leaving just before you graduated from the academy, but the second I met you I knew I'd have to see it through. But we're done now, you're going to make detective any day so I guess my work here is done."_

_"But..I need you," she said pathetically, willing him to change his mind._

_"You don't," he told her, "you might think you do, but you don't. Goodbye, Beckett."_

_She cried every night for a week after he left, but she finally accepted he wasn't coming back and moved on. But the day Mike Royce walked out of her life, she put her mothers case behind her and got herself into therapy - if he wasn't there to help her, she couldn't do it._

* * *

Royce was right, it wasn't long until she made detective - youngest woman in the history of the NYPD to make detective they told her, beat the previous record by six weeks..she didn't realise people still counted.

And it wasn't long before she met FBI agent Will Sorenson when they worked together on a particularly difficult case involving a child who had been kidnapped. It was an horrific case and they didn't get the result they wanted, but they grew close and begun a relationship. Beckett wasn't sure why, they both knew from day one that they weren't meant for each other but the attraction between them was so strong neither of them cared.

It lasted six months, but just like Royce, he left too.

* * *

_"Come to Boston with me?" He asked over dinner one night._

_"I..you got the job?"_

_"Yeah," he grinned, "I start in three weeks. So you'll come with me?"_

_"I..no, wait," she said, "I can't.."_

_"What do you mean you can't?" He asked, "it's Boston, not Brazil, less than an hour on a plane. You can come back and see your dad whenever you want."_

_"And my job?" She asked, "you expect me to just give that up because you want to move to Boston?"_

_"You can be a cop there as well you know."_

_She shook her head at him, it wasn't that simple. "Do you know how hard it is being a female detective in New York? Hell, anywhere? I worked my ass off to make detective and even now I get men sneering down at me, assuming I slept my way there, but most of them have realised I'm good at my job. I'm not going to throw all of that in just because you're moving to Boston."_

_"So..we're over?" He asked._

_"Looks like it," she said, desperately trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. "But let's face it, we knew all along it wouldn't work out.." She brought them both back with a reminder of their tattoos, both of them knowing it wasn't supposed to be before he walked out of her life to his new job in Boston._

* * *

After Will left, she thought about her tattoo and what it meant. There _should_ be someone out there meant just for her but she hadn't found him yet and if she was completely honest, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to meet him. So far, everyone she loved had left; her mom - albeit unintentionally, then her father - to the alcohol, she had him back now but she'd gone through some of the most difficult times without him. Then the one person outside her family that she had truly loved had broken her heart, that still hurt. And then Will, choosing his job over her.

So why would she want to fall in love? Whether it was meant to be or not, someone was going to get hurt, they always did. And as she stood at that book launch, about to bring her favourite author in for questioning, she realised she didn't want a soulmate, not if it came in the shape and form of a playboy millionaire who was used to dating supermodels. No thank you, she'd rather spend the rest of her life alone..

* * *

**A/N: I know everyone has their own opinions on the relationship between Beckett and Royce, which is why I tried not to suggest anything actually happened, but focused on how she loved him, because I think we can all say that was true. Reviews make me happy :)**

**twitter - holaitsjade | tumblr - stanaabanana**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: your feedback has been brilliant so far, I'm so glad you're all enjoying it! Now we're back in real time: the moment they met. Just so you know, we're deviating from the show - it's along the same lines for now, with Castle being questioned but not in the way it was in 1x01 and then it'll probably go completely AU.**

* * *

_And so, as it came to that night at the book launch for Castle's last Derrick Storm novel, he didn't think anything of it when the beautiful brunette said, "Mr Castle," and he didn't think anything of it when she then introduced herself as the police. He didn't even notice the look of shock on her face when he said "where would you like it?"_

_The second Kate heard those words, she almost turned around and ran straight back out - it couldn't be _him_, could it?_

* * *

Staring into those _remarkable_ blue eyes, she almost forgot what she was here to do. _Focus, Kate,_ she told herself. _No, not on his eyes_...though they were _so_ blue..but _no_, on bringing him in for questioning. "We need to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight," she told him, praying against all odds that her voice didn't give her away, that he couldn't tell how his words had affected her._ Oh the irony._

She heard the red headed girl - his daughter? - behind him say "that's new!" But neither of them were paying any attention to that. There was..chemistry. Instant and undeniable chemistry. The second their eyes met, she was gone, she'd fallen hook, line and sinker and all he'd done was ask her where she wanted it whilst holding out a pen! Oh god, she wished her mother were here to find out what her tattoo actually meant.

Castle was frozen, eyes still firmly locked on..did she say her name was Kate? Yeah, Kate. Beckett. She was gorgeous, that was undeniable, but what really got to him was the connection they had. They'd literally just met and you could practically run a firework display from the sparks between them right now. And then it hit him - the first words she had said to him had been "Mr Castle" - the same first words a lot of people used admittedly, but what had he said to her? Ah, he remembered as he saw the pen he was still holding; "where would you like it?" He suddenly had a new mission - find out what her tattoo said.

* * *

Beckett was stood outside interrogation room one, taking deep breaths before she headed inside to question him. She was _this_ close to handing it over to Esposito, making him lead detective on this case but she couldn't do it. Not because of her connection with Castle, no, if that's all it was she would have handed it over with no questions asked but she had to admit, the reason she was a cop was to get justice for those unlike what she had been given. And nobody in this precinct knew Richard Castle's books better than her, except maybe the man himself.. So she stuck with it, telling herself it was for Allison Tisdale and Marvin Fisk, nothing else. She almost believed it for about half a second.

She couldn't believe this was happening - what were the chances that her favourite author ended up being a part of her murder investigation - never mind the chances of him being her soulmate! She could try and convince herself that he _wasn't_ the one, but the connection between them had been undeniable. To prove it for sure she had to find out what his tattoo said, and then she could panic properly. Perhaps she could authorise a strip search..

"Mr Castle," she said walking into the room. "You've got quite a rap sheet for a bestselling author."

"Oh it _is_ you," he said excitedly, shifting in his seat to lean forward onto the table. "From the deer in the headlights look you gave me earlier I half expected you to palm this off on another detective."

_Crap_. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, "now if we can-"

"Oh I think you do," he grinned, and she cursed him for not dropping it. "You looked like you'd rather be anywhere but there."

"Yes well, I would have," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Not really my kind of scene."

"Explains the deer in the headlights look then," he lied - he had a pretty good idea of why she had looked like that and it wasn't because she didn't want to be there.

"Maybe that was another woman," she counteracted, "I'm sure you met a lot tonight."

"None as beautiful as you," he shot back quickly and she bit her lip to hide the grin. _Stop it, _she mentally scolded herself,_ he's a charmer and playboy and is used to women falling all over him, don't become another one of them._

"Can we get back to why you're here, please?"

"Whatever you say, _Detective_," he smirked and she resisted the overwhelming temptation to throw the file at his head.

An hour later and Beckett realised questioning him had been a waste of time. He didn't know either of their victims and had generally been more of a nuisance than helpful. Filing the paperwork away, she grabbed her things and headed for home - it was late and the rest of the investigation would have to wait until tomorrow.

Exiting the elevator and walking out into the lobby, she was surprised to see Castle jump up from the chair he'd been sat on - apparently waiting for her. "What?" she asked, "remembered Allison Tisdale _is_ in your little black book?" Her voice was dripping with disapproval but to his credit, he ignored it.

"No, actually I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink?"

"With you?" She asked, coming to halt on the pavement.

"No, with my mother. Yes, with me!"

"Why?"

"Why not?" He counteracted with a grin.

"Because we don't know each other, we come from completely different worlds and I'm sure you've got a supermodel waiting for you somewhere." _Never mind the fact that you apparently appear to be my soulmate and I'm desperately trying to find a way around that, _she added silently.

"Just a drink," he reiterated, "I'm not asking you to marry me."_ Not yet, anyway_.

"No, I'm going home - alone."

"No boyfriend?"

"What's that got to do with you? And shouldn't that have been asked before you asked me out for a drink?"

"Doesn't make a difference," he shrugged, "something's are just _meant to be_ if you get what I mean." The look on her face confirmed his original suspicions in the best way possible at the moment. Until he could get a look at that tattoo, he couldn't be 100% sure but it seemed that Detective Kate Beckett was his soulmate.

She didn't say anything to that, slipping into the drivers seat of her car and leaving him standing alone on the pavement in the dark.

* * *

Beckett had trouble sleeping that night. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind was flooded with images of Richard Castle and his damn blue eyes. Her stomach was in knots - if she was right and he was her soulmate, well then she was done for. He knew her name and where she worked and from his comments earlier, he'd figured it out too - so what was stopping him coming back to see her?

Groaning, she rolled onto her stomach and smashed her face into her pillow. Of all the people in the world, she ended up with _him_. A man who lived his life on page six, already had a daughter and probably didn't know the meaning of the word monogamous!

She used to have nightmares that her soulmate would be one of her suspects or something but she was beginning to think reality was a lot worse. She didn't _want_ to be with him, but how could she do anything else? She could quite happily begin relationships with other guys but they all knew none of them would work for long, because they all had soulmates somewhere too. So it seemed she had two options: one, admit that she and Castle were destined to be together, or two, spend the rest of her life alone. She knew which one she preferred the sound of right now.

On the other side of town, Richard Castle was having no trouble sleeping. He was dreaming of the stunning detective he'd met..dreaming that they were getting married..having children, images of a pregnant Kate Beckett padding barefoot around his loft entered his mind and he woke up grinning. It was the middle of the night still but he didn't care, he'd found his soulmate and she was _perfect_. Now he just had to convince _her_ they were meant to be together..

* * *

**A/N: thoughts? ****Oh, and happy Castle Monday, let's see if we survive Veritas!**

**twitter - holaitsjade | tumblr - stanaabanana**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: we all still alive after Veritas?!**

* * *

She was going to murder him. The law and her life be damned, she was going to kill him. What was he doing here? Where she worked? The second she saw him in the precinct as she walked in, she was halfway to drawing her gun and shooting him where he stood. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? She'd made it perfectly clear that she wasn't interested and yet here he was, with that smile on his face that had probably got him any woman he wanted in the past.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed at him.

"Helping the city I love," he grinned. "I feel partly responsible for this case you're working on - they're based on my books after all - so thought I'd come and see what I could do to help."

Ugh she hated him. "Believe it or not Mr Castle, we have managed to close plenty of cases without your help before." It was a pathetic excuse and she knew it. Those damn sparks were back, causing a tension between them that wouldn't be broken. Truth was, his help could be useful on this case, like he'd said; it was a fan of his and he knew his books best.

"I'm sure you have, Detective, just trying to do my bit," he smiled and she hid a groan. Damn him and his stupid blue eyes and perfect smile.

Quite clearly, Beckett had no choice in the matter - even if she did have a gun. Her Captain had insisted Castle stayed and that's why she was currently sifting through his mountains of fanmail with him and desperately trying not to jump his bones just because they were alone.

She wasn't sure what was wrong with her. She'd never felt like this..never had this connection with anyone, not even Royce and she didn't think it was possible to love anyone anymore than she had Royce. _Not_ that she was in love with Richard Castle, of course, just some feelings that should disappear once she managed to remind herself of how much of a jackass he was.

She ignored the little voice in her head telling her he was her soulmate, it wasn't definite anyway - surely someone else could say those words to her? And what were the chances of his tattoo saying 'Mr Castle'?

"So, have you met him?" Castle interrupted her thoughts with another random question.

"Met who?" She asked distractedly. Had he been talking? Was she supposed to have some idea of who the hell he was talking about?

"Your soulmate," he said simply. "But then, I'm going to assume not."

Oh he was, was he? Smug git. "And why is that, may I ask?"

He leant forward on the table to put their faces mere inches apart, his eyes meeting hers. "Because any straight, red-blooded male would be stupid not to put a ring on your finger first chance he got."

Holy crap. Was it getting hot in here? She didn't know how he did it, turning to mush with just a few words, she'd always been proud of the fact that she could keep her cool, not let her emotions show through but all of that seemed to fly out of the window when he was around.

She chose to ignore his comment and hoped he couldn't see the blush on her face. "No," she said, "in answer to your question, as far as I am aware, I haven't met my soulmate. Not that it's any of your business."

He ignored her last remark. "Me either. So, you gonna tell me what your tattoo says?"

"No."

Right. So there went his first plan. Guess he'd just have to get her naked instead..he grinned at that - a naked Kate Beckett was certainly something to write home about. "Spoilsport," he said, and she frowned at him. "So, any serious candidates?"

"What has this got to do with you?" She asked, dropping the letter she was looking at.

"I'm a writer," he shrugged, "being nosy comes with the job. So?"

"You're not going to drop this, are you?" She said and he shook his head, grinning like a child. "I guess it's hard," she admitted, "starting something but knowing it isn't going to last."

"I get what you mean-"

"Haven't you been married twice?"

"Ah, a fan I see," he replied.

"Nope, read your file when I brought you in for questioning," she shot back, pleased at her own response.

"_Anyway.._ for your information I married Meredith because she got pregnant and it felt like the right thing to do and I married Gina because..well I'm not really sure but we were both bored of waiting for the one to show up and so we started dating. Which led to a wedding.."

"I didn't ask," she muttered, going back to the letters.

"Yeah well, I told you anyway. But I understand, the whole not wanting anything because it could end at any point but at the same time you can't wait around for it to happen."

"I know, and I didn't. But there's no one now." _And you told him that, why?_

"Good," he said and her head flew up to meet his gaze. "Just saying," he grinned and she shook her head at him.

An hour later and she still hadn't managed to get rid of him. They'd found the letter they were looking for and had brought their suspect in for questioning. She'd listened as he'd stood their and said they didn't have the right guy - what did he know, anyway? But finally, he said he was leaving.

"Oh, one more thing, Detective," he said as he picked up his coat. "You never asked what my tattoo said."

"Maybe because I'm not interested," she replied, not looking up at him.

"Well, it says 'Mr Castle,' by the way." And he walked out.

_Oh my god_. Dammit, she was screwed! The last shred of hope she had been hanging onto was that his tattoo _didn't_ say what she had first said to him - and he'd just ruined it all! So now it was confirmed - Richard Castle was her soulmate. Oh god she needed a drink.

* * *

**A/N: I apologise that it's super short but I worked an eleven hour shift today, starting at 7.30am so I'm pretty tired right now! Will hopefully update again before the weekend!**


	6. Chapter 6

Seven am the next morning found Kate Beckett sat on one of Lanie's autopsy tables awaiting the arrival of her best friend. She'd hardly slept, her thoughts once again overtaken by a ruggedly handsome mystery writer with blue eyes that would not get out of her head. So, instead of simply going into work early and catching up on some paperwork, she decided to swing by the morgue and get Lanie's take on things - she knew she could trust Lanie to put things into perspective for her.

"Jeez girl," Lanie said as she entered the morgue, "you almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here so early?"

"I've met him, Lanie," Beckett said simply.

"Met who?" Lanie asked, suddenly even more confused.

"My soulmate. The one. The man I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with.."

"Oh my god," Lanie squealed. "That's amazing! What's his name? What does he- wait, why aren't you happy about this? He's not a murderer is he?" She asked with a panic stricken look - she knew Kate had been worried about that happening.

"No, he's not a murderer," Kate replied and despite how miserable she felt, she had to laugh at that. She might not like the fact that her soulmate was a nationally known playboy, but at least he hadn't done anything _too_ illegal.

"So?" Lanie pressed, "why aren't you jumping up and down squealing for joy?"

"Okay, one - when have you _ever_ seen me jumping up and down squealing for joy? And two - I don't need a man to make me happy."

"Okay I'll give you the first one, you're not the jump up and down squealy type but I'm not letting you get away with the second. I'm not saying you _need_ a man to make you happy but there must be a point to the whole soulmate thing. You don't just get the tattoo for no reason. And tell me - what was it like when you met him?"

Like everyone else was invisible. Like it was just us. Even in her head Kate knew the words sounded cliché but it was true. The second her eyes had met with Richard Castle's there had been undeniable chemistry, an attraction between them that wasn't going away easily - if ever.

Lanie took her silence for the answer she wanted. "Exactly. So, you've met your 'one' - when's the wedding?"

"Wedding? Jeez, we haven't even had a civil conversation yet."

"Oh honey," Lanie sympathised. "So that's why you're not ecstatic about it?"

"Yeah..I guess. I mean I can't say I was ever that bothered about finding out who it was in the first place but I knew when I met him I was pleased that I actually knew..but we're the complete opposite, Lanie. The man is like a nine year old on a sugar rush and I swear to god I want to shoot him every time I see him!"

"Wait, you've practically been working non-stop for the last few days and you didn't say anything to me - is it another detective?"

"No, no one at work," Kate said, not really sure she wanted to tell Lanie who it was right now. Though she'd find out soon enough - her and Esposito had been together for a year now, they'd got engaged last month and were currently planning their wedding. They'd found out pretty soon after meeting that they were meant to be together and both of them were over the moon with each other..it was sickening really.

"Katherine Beckett don't you even think that you're leaving this room until I get a name," Lanie said in her best 'tell me right this second before I hurt you' voice.

_Well, no time like the present_. "His name is Rick," Kate told her reluctantly. "Rick Castle." As she said his last name, she closed her eyes already anticipating Lanie's reaction.

"Your soulmate is Richard Castle? _The_ Richard Castle?" Lanie shouted.

"Lanie," Kate hissed, "will you keep your voice down?" The last thing she needed was everyone she worked with knowing that her soulmate was Richard Castle.

"Sorry," Lanie replied, in a much quieter voice. "But..seriously?"

"Yep. Unfortunately."

"But..he's your favourite author, Kate!"

"He's still an ass."

"Anyway..how'd you find out it was him? Javi said you brought him in for questioning the other day but he didn't mention anything about him being your soulmate."

"Because he doesn't know. Nobody does. Except you. Yeah well, when I went to question him, first thing he said to me was 'where would you like it?' I knew then that I was screwed."

"What uh..what was he meaning when he said that?"

"He thought I was a fan - I did interrupt his book launch, after all. So he was asking where I wanted his autograph. God that man disgusts me!"

"And what's happened since?"

"Not lot," Kate admitted. "He somehow got permission to stick around and interfere in my case. We talked about soulmates - he said he realised when we met that he'd said the words of my tattoo, apparently my face gave it away. And then as he was leaving yesterday he told me his and it's what I said to him so looks like we're stuck together now."

"But he hasn't made a move?" Lanie asked. From what she'd read in the papers, Richard Castle was well known for his playboy behaviour.

"No," Kate replied, shaking her head. "He asked me out for a drink the other night but that's it."

"Look, Kate," Lanie said in a voice that quite clearly suggested she was about to dish out some advice. "I know you can't stand the guy but don't shut him out completely, okay? You're meant for each other and however much you hate that right now, nothing you can do is going to change that so you might as well learn to live with it. Give the guy a chance, would you?"

Kate sighed. Deep down, she knew Lanie was right. This guy was her soulmate, no matter how much she complained about it. They were destined to be together and chances were that they would be eventually - so why put off the inevitable? "Yeah I know you're right, Lanie..it's just..although I was never really fussed about meeting the right guy, I just wish we'd got on straight away, y'know? I mean look at you and Espo - you've practically been inseparable since the day you met!"

"Life has a funny way of working out, girl, but I promise you - it's meant to be, okay? So go enjoy it, tease the guy and bit and make sure every other woman who wants him knows they can't have him!"

"Thanks Lanie," Kate laughed, jumping down from the table, "that was exactly what I needed."

* * *

"Ah, good morning Detective," Captain Montgomery greeted as she entered the bullpen. "I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise, sir?"

"Yes - meet your new..well I'm not sure what it makes him but he's going to be following you for a bit."

Kate knew before she even saw him what her Captain was talking about. Her gaze followed to where. Montgomery was pointing and sure enough, Richard Castle was stood in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Beckett asked as soon as Montgomery had gone back to his office.

"Research," Castle grinned. "Killed off Derrick Storm, remember? Needed some new inspiration." _And I need to convince you we're meant to be together_, he added silently.

"I should have known you wouldn't drop it that easily," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. "Well, I don't have much to do except paperwork so you might as well go home."

"Good try, Beckett," he grinned, "but I'm staying. And paperwork? Don't you have a killer to catch?"

"We got him yesterday, Castle. Kyle Cabot, remember?"

"It wasn't him."

She was about to brush his theory off but it was either listen to her favourite author spin a tale right in front of her or begin her massive pile of paperwork. "Okay writer-boy, show me what you've got."

"Writer boy?" He frowned at the new name. "Think I prefer writer-_man_ but anyway..it makes no sense. Why would he go from a murder of convenience, to murdering someone he knew and then back to a murder of convenience?" Kate didn't tell him that that was exactly what she'd said to Esposito. "And for someone like Kyle Cabot, he'd be all about the details - except he wasn't - Fisk was killed in the wrong way, Tisdale was covered in the wrong flowers, Kendra was in the wrong colour dress..it doesn't make any sense."

As much as Kate hated to admit it, Castle had a point. Now just to figure out where exactly they'd missed their vital piece of evidence..

* * *

Not that she'd ever admit it to him, but Castle had essentially solved the case. Well, put enough doubt in her head to re-think what they'd done. Their real murderer - Allison Tisdale's brother was being driven away by uniformed officers and their case was closed - for good this time.

"So, I was right," Castle grinned.

"Don't gloat, it's unattractive," Beckett snapped.

"Oo someone's tetchy," he teased, "is it because I realised before you that you had the wrong guy?"

"Shut up."

"Okay, shutting up now. Well, about that anyway. We still have more to discuss?"

"We do?" She asked, turning to face him.

"Yep," he said simply. "Like how we both know you're denying the inevitable. I know what your tattoo says and you know what mine says - and we both know what that means for us. So, what do you say, Detective? Want to go and get dinner?"

* * *

**A/N: thank you if you've reviewed so far - let me know what you thought about this chapter :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: the response to this is so much better than I ever imagined, thank you!**

* * *

_"Yep," he said simply. "Like how we both know you're denying the inevitable. I know what your tattoo says and you know what mine says - and we both know what that means for us. So, what do you say, Detective? Want to go and get dinner?"_

* * *

Did she? Kate was taken aback by his question, not entirely sure of the answer she wanted to give. On one hand she could decline, due to the fact that the man drove her insane, acted like a child, probably had a different woman every night and didn't know the meaning of the word serious. Alternatively, she could agree, solely based upon the fact that, like he'd said, she was denying the inevitable. All the evidence was stacked up against her, they were soulmates and it was going to happen whether she wanted it to or not, so why fight it?

She went with option two. "Okay fine," she agreed. "You win, we'll go out for dinner."

"Seriously?" He grinned, "you're actually going out with me?"

"So it would appear," she replied drily. "On one condition."

"Name it and it's yours." He was still in shock that she had actually agreed to a date with him. The moment he met her he knew she'd be hard work but the way he felt right now at her agreeing to dinner with him, he knew it was one hundred and ten percent worth it.

"I pay for half."

Oh no, that was so not happening. "Beckett," he began.

"Nope, I pay for half or it doesn't happen."

He could always pretend to use the loo and pay for it when she wasn't looking.. "Fine," he relented. "God, you drive a hard bargain woman! Why won't you let me pay for it?"

"It's the 21st century, Castle. I might not make as much money as you but I make enough, I can pay for my own dinner."

"Never suggested you couldn't, Detective, just wanted to treat you." She was _so_ not paying for a thing. "Come on, let's go, I know a great little Italian place. You like Italian, right?"

"Yeah, I love Italian..wait, I'm not dressed for dinner!"

He gave her a once over, eyes starting at her ankles and rising appreciatively up her legs..god they were amazing..over her toned stomach hidden beneath her shirt and up to her breasts. His gaze may have lingered a little _too_ long there, Beckett cleared her throat to recapture his attention.

"Well," he grinned, "you could always _undress_."

"Right here in the street? Yeah, not happening."

"Shame," he shrugged. "I'm sure it would have been great."

God he was a cocky asshole. She took a step towards him to whisper in his ear. "You have no idea."

He was a goner. He was completely and utterly hooked on her, he couldn't imagine ever having enough. If he inched his head just a fraction to the left, he could kiss her..

"Pick me up in an hour," she whispered, before turning on her heel and walking away from him. He could have sworn she added an extra sway of her hips, as if she knew he'd be watching. Little minx..

* * *

Rushing home, Kate jumped into the shower to freshen up before deciding what on earth she was going to wear. She didn't want to dress _too_ dressy, he hadn't said anything about that, but she wanted to wear something different to the smart clothes she wore to work.

Ten minutes later - after pulling out what felt like everything in her wardrobe, she'd decided on a dark grey jumper dress, that fell to mid thigh. She debated over wearing tights, but it was still really warm out - and she'd seen the way Castle had looked at her legs earlier, she was going to take Lanie's advice and tease him a little.

She wasn't one to take ages on her hair and make up, so she added a couple more coats of mascara and left it at that. She'd just slipped into a pair of her favourite black heels when Castle knocked at the door - she had realised just after she left that he didn't know her address, so she'd text it to him.

"Hi," she said, opening the door to him.

"Hey," he replied, "you ready to- oh my god.."

She had been too busy grabbing her cell and keys to see what he was looking at, so turned back to him with a questioning look on her face. "What?" She asked. "What's up?" It was only after she'd asked that she saw where his eyes were pointed. "They're just legs, Castle," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but they're _your_ legs," he replied. "Wow, you look amazing!"

"Er thanks." She blushed at the compliment, suddenly regretting not wearing tights. "Um, shall we go?"

"What? Oh, yeah.." He took a deep breath before following her down the hall. _Bad idea, Rick_, he told himself, now all he could look at was her ass..

"Eyes up, Castle," she said without even turning round - but he didn't miss the small smile on her lips as he stood next to her in the elevator. It was going to be a good night, he could tell.

* * *

As much as she hated to admit it, Kate was actually enjoying herself. They'd just started the main course and things were going well. They'd maintained a steady flow of conversation all night so far, and Castle had been nothing but a perfect gentleman. He'd pulled her chair out for her when they arrived and he'd checked she was happy with the wine he wanted to order. He hadn't ordered her food for her - seeming to know already that she wasn't one of _those_ kinds of girls. He hadn't made any inappropriate comments and his eyes had mainly stayed above her chest. She was impressed. There was one thing bugging her though, it had entered her mind when she was showering earlier..

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked.

"Well you just did but I'm assuming it was something else?"

"Yeah. It's just uh..I know you told me what your tattoo says but um..I don't uh.."

"Have any proof?" He suggested with a smile.

"Um, yeah..basically," she agreed. She felt as though she should bring it up, even if they were having a fantastic evening so far. She'd sort of just taken his word for it that his tattoo did say "Mr Castle" but she hadn't actually seen it. And to be fair, he hadn't seen hers either, but he didn't seem too bothered right now.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to bring it up, actually," he laughed. "You seemed so desperate to get rid of me that I thought it would've been the first thing you said when I didn't leave."

"It didn't enter my mind that you weren't telling the truth," she admitted. In all honesty, he might be an annoying child half the time, but he hadn't given her any reason so far to suggest he wasn't an honest man.

"Well, I could always strip for you.." He teased with a smirk. "Right here, if you want.."

She wasn't even going to think about how appealing that sounded. "Uh no, it's okay," she replied with a nervous laugh. "I'm not saying I don't believe you, I guess I was just wondering.."

"I promise you, anytime you want to see it and I'll show it to you, okay?"

"Thanks," she smiled, deciding she might take him up on that later, just to put her mind at rest once and for all. "You not gonna ask about mine?"

"Are you going to strip for me?" He asked.

And there it was, the jackass was back out to play. Just when she thought they were actually getting somewhere, he had to go and ruin it! "In your dreams, sunshine," she drawled and smirked when he visibly gulped.

"Trust me, in my dreams you don't just-"

"Okay, we can stop right there, I think!"

"Sorry," he said with a grin. "But uh, I think your expression when I first turned to you and said 'where would you like it' was all the proof I need. But if you're willing to show me.."

"Drop it." That was so not happening. She was completely torn right now. She'd started the day hating his guts but her chat with Lanie had put things into perspective and she had a feeling that's why she was here now, at dinner with him. She wanted to hate him and she still did a bit, but the more time she spent with him the more she realised how good they could be. He was right, she had been denying the inevitable..but what if they jumped into it too soon and crashed and burned? Would they spend the rest of their lives alone or would he move onto the next available bimbo?

"You have no idea how long I've waited to meet you," he said softly, putting his cutlery down and pushing his plate away.

And there he was, the man she could quite easily fall for.. "How could you know you were waiting for me if we'd never even met?" She asked skeptically.

"Oh you know what I mean. When I woke up on my eighteenth birthday with the words "Mr Castle" tattooed on me, I was confused and annoyed. I mean, I didn't even know I'd change my name to Castle at that point, so that made no sense. At that point it was just a tattoo of someone else's name. And then came the women..when I first got published and made a name for myself, the majority of people said those words to me when we first met, it soon got boring. You have no idea how frustrating it is having your name as your tattoo..it could have been 90% of the people I met!"

"Yeah, I guess I'm glad I don't have my name," she laughed. "Though I was a bit shocked when I saw mine.."

"Yeah I bet! And I also bet eighteen year old Kate Beckett had a dirty mind, too?" He teased.

"Maybe a little," she grinned back. "But you have to agree - with a tattoo like that, it could have been anything!"

"Little did you know it would be something as innocent as an autograph."

"Oh I don't know," she shot back, "was there anything innocent about what you were asking?"

"Probably not," he replied sheepishly.

The waitress came to clear their plates and asked if they'd like dessert. "Kate?" Castle asked. "Anything for you?"

Beckett was pretty full but she had seen the chocolate fudge brownie on the menu earlier.. "Oh go on then," she said, ordering the brownie.

"A woman who loves her food..now that's nice to see!"

"No point in starving myself when they have chocolate fudge brownie on the menu. I'll just do a few extra stomach crunches tomorrow."

* * *

After dessert, the waitress brought the bill over and Castle slipped her his card before Kate could even notice. She'd remember eventually, he was sure of that, but for now he'd managed to get away with paying.

They'd taken the car service to the restaurant, but they decided to walk back - Castle insisting he see her home.

"I would have been fine, you know?" She said as they reached her apartment building. "Hold on a sec - you paid for dinner!"

"Took you long enough to realise," he chuckled.

"But..but..you said I could pay half!"

"Just to let you know - I was never intending to let you pay for anything. I was going to sneak off and pay anyway."

"Then let me pay you back?" She asked.

"I don't want your money Beckett. You can buy the coffee tomorrow and we'll call it even."

"That's not even," she grumbled. They'd reached her door now and it was time to say goodnight.

"Oh well, you'll get over it," he teased. "You gonna invite me in?" He asked hopefully.

"Not a chance," she laughed.

"Worried you won't be able to control yourself if we're alone?"

"Yes." Oops..

"Kate.." He whispered.

"Shut up and kiss me, Castle."

He didn't need telling twice. Capturing her lips with his own, he pulled her body flush with his and slipped his tongue past her lips, exploring her mouth with his own. A small moan left her body and his heart fluttered, he'd never heard such a perfect sound from such a perfect woman..he was practically in love with her already..

She broke away from the kiss, panting hard. "Wow," she grinned.

"Tell me about it," he muttered. "I uh..I should go.." It wasn't what he wanted, not at all. But they'd made such amazing progress - just twenty four hours ago she looked like she wanted to shoot him every time she saw him and now look at them. He wouldn't rush her, he needed this to be perfect and that meant going at her speed.

"Yeah," she agreed. She didn't want him to go but she knew it was for the best. She wasn't the 'jump into bed with them after the first date', not anymore. And even though she knew they were meant to be together, she was still taking this slow, making sure neither of them screwed it up too soon. "I'll uh, see you tomorrow?"

"Don't forget the coffee," he murmured, brushing his lips over hers once more before Turing and walking back down the hallway and into the elevator.

Letting herself into her apartment, Beckett closed the door and leant back against it, failing to keep the grin off of her face. She'd just had the best date of her life and it was with the person she'd least expect...life had a funny way of working out sometimes.

* * *

**A/N: (6x23 SPOILERS) we're going to the chapel and we're gonna get marriiiieeddddd. Everyone excited for tonight's episode?! Reviews more than welcome :)**

**twitter - holaitsjade | tumblr - stanaabanana**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: well..my note at the end of chapter 7 looks a bit silly now, doesn't it! (Don't go back and check if you haven't seen 6x23!) **

**PS: I'm taking part in the Castle Hiatus Ficathon - my story is called Something Keeps Me Holding Onto Nothing so if you wouldnt mind, please check it out and leave me a review :) xoxo**

* * *

Waking early the next morning, Kate was still on cloud nine, her date with Castle the night before still playing on her mind. She couldn't help but think how proud Lanie would be of her - she had taken her advice, gone out with him and teased him a bit. She'd dropped her walls for the evening, let herself have a good time - goodness knows she deserved it.

And despite thinking it would never work in a million years, she'd had a brilliant time - she might even let him get a second date out of it if he was lucky. She rolled her at eyes at that - she was only trying to kid herself, if he asked she knew she'd say yes.

It had been an unconventional meeting, neither of them expecting to first see each other the way they had but even with her initial reservations about him, she truly believed she was doing the right thing by letting him in. That told her enough in itself - she'd never once met anyone she could just relax around, be herself with and let in like she did with Castle.

Checking her cell before hopping in the shower, she grinned upon seeing she had a text from him. _'Morning beautiful_,' it read, '_don't forget you're buying coffee this morning ;)'._

'_Hadn't forgotten_,' she text back, '_want me to pick you up on the way?'_

He text back with an _'if you wouldn't mind_' and she headed to the shower, speeding up now that she had to leave a little earlier.

* * *

"Morning Castle," she grinned shyly as he climbed into the car.

No words were needed for his greeting, before she could say another word he practically pounced on her. Lips latching onto hers with such ferocity she was almost thrown backwards, she would have been had it not been for his hand cupping the back of her head to keep her in place.

Breaking away a few moments later, she was faced with his cocky grin. "Morning Beckett," he breathed out.

She let out a shaky laugh. "Too much sugar for breakfast, Castle?"

"No. Just excited to see you," he smiled and she melted.

Putting the car into gear and driving off, she realised how fast she was falling for him. He was a cocky asshole half the time but the other half? Well, she could probably get used to the cocky asshole if she got the other half of him too. It was too fast..all of it..but why fight it? They were soulmates, destined to be together since she day she turned eighteen - it would happen eventually, so why not throw caution into the wind for once and just go with it?

She pulled up at her favourite coffee shop and unbuckled her belt, Castle following suit.

"Hey um, Castle?" She asked as they joined the queue.

"Yes?" He replied. He wasn't sure was going to like where this conversation was about to head..the tone of her voice suggested as much, anyway.

"Do you mind if we uh..sort of keep this..us, a secret?"

He looked over to her but she had suddenly become very interested in the button of her coat. God she was adorable, had she really been shy about asking him that? She could ask for the moon and he'd get it for her. "If that's what you want," he smiled.

"Are you sure?" She asked, head jerking to face him.

"Of course," he laughed. "I can't imagine you share your personal life with the guys often anyway, it's not that big of a deal if you just want us to pretend I'm still just following you around." He was going to leave it but he couldn't resist, "but uh, there's an us, is there?"

"Shut up, Castle," she mumbled, bumping her arm into his. "What do you want?" They'd reached the front of the queue and Kate gave her usual order which Castle added to. He went to pay but she batted her hand away, handing the cash over to the barista who watched them with amusement. "You said if I brought the coffee then we were even. So, I'm buying the coffee."

"I was only saying that to shut you up," he grumbled. He _knew_ she could pay for things but he liked treating her, he had more money than he knew what to do with anyway.

"Well I've paid for it now so you can drop it, okay?"

"Actually..there is something else you could do for me.." He began and she eyed him suspiciously as they walked back to her car. "Come to dinner tonight? With my mother and daughter?" He shot out quickly before he could change his mind.

Oh god. Had he really just invited her to dinner with his family after just one date?

"I mean..only if you want to, obviously. And if you don't have any plans..oh you know what, I'm sure you've got plans so don't worry-"

"Castle," she interrupted loudly as she drove off again. "I'd love to." She would? That was news to her! But then..why shouldn't she? She'd already admitted that this was different, that she was letting him in unlike anyone else, what was dinner with his family?

"You would?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "if you want me to."

"I'd love for you to come over but only if you want to. I don't want you to feel like you have to but I may have mentioned you to Alexis and my mother overheard and simply _insisted_ you come for dinner..you'll understand what I mean when you meet her and so I said I'd ask but please, don't say yes because you're too polite to say no."

"Castle," she laughed, "I'll come, okay? I think it'll be fun."

"Good. So that's settled then," he said happily as she pulled up at the precinct.

* * *

Their day passed quickly, the team caught up in their latest case - the nanny of a family had been found in the dryer - Castle had barely contained his excitement. Castle had kept to his word and hadn't mentioned anything to the others about their date - or their tattoos, to which she was thankful. He had said he would, but she still had her little doubts - he did get overexcited sometimes.

He'd left just before her, taking a cab home - she was going back to her apartment to change and freshen up a little. He had whispered for her to bring a toothbrush as he left but she didn't know if he was trying to wind her up or actually suggesting she could stay over.

Thoughts of them going too fast entered her head again..was she ready for that? When she was younger, struggling to cope with her mothers death, she had jumped into bed with guys without even knowing their name - but she was worried about sleeping with Castle when they were each other's 'one'? Oh how she'd grown up.

She threw her toothbrush into her bag anyway - better to be prepared.

* * *

"Wow, I didn't know you could cook like this, Castle," Kate said, sounding surprised. He'd just placed a huge steaming plate of chargrilled chicken coated in a Mediterranean sauce, complete with steamed vegetables and seasoned potatoes in front of her.

"I'm a man of many talents, Detecitve," he winked across the table and she blushed.

"Ahem," Martha interrupted. "There's a child in the room, Richard."

"Oh don't mind me," Alexis grinned. "You don't even want to know what I overhear at school."

"Lalalala I'm not listening," Castle said loudly, clamping his hands over his ears, eliciting laughs from the three females at the table.

"So Katherine," Martha began - Kate had figured early on that she wasn't going to get Martha to call her Kate. "Tell us honestly, what has Richard been like working with you?"

"Oh I'm not sure you want to know," Kate teased with a laugh. "He's very..enthusiastic.." That was putting it nicely.

"Yes I can imagine, just what his teachers used to say when he was at school, too," Martha mused.

Castle pouted. "Are you all going to gang up on me?"

"Awe Castle, are you feeling left out?" Kate said, "do you want me to tell them how amazing you are and how we couldn't have solved the case without you?"

"Please," he nodded eagerly and Kate laughed.

"Tough."

"Oh goodness, look at the time!" Martha exclaimed. "I hate to leave you all but I have a rehearsal to get to!" She excused herself from the table and said her goodbyes. "It was lovely to meet you, Katherine - and don't be a stranger, feel free to pop over anytime you feel the urge!"

"Thank you, Martha," Kate blushed. "It was lovely to meet you too."

"She likes you," Castle whispered to Kate as Alexis began clearing the table. "She's never invited anyone I've dated over before, you must have made quite an impression."

"Of course she did, dad," Alexis said, coming back to the table. "Detective Beckett doesn't fawn over you and pretend to like me just to get to you. At least, I don't think you're pretending," she directed at Kate. "I'm pretty good at telling dad's dates apart.."

"No Alexis," Kate laughed, "I'm not pretending. In fact, I think I like you better than your dad sometimes," she added with a wink.

"Oh that's right, be mean to the guy who cooked you dinner," Castle huffed and Kate laughed.

"I'm sorry, Castle, you're just so easy to wind up!" She giggled, leaning over to press a kiss to his lips. It wasn't until she'd moved back into her seat that she realised what she'd done. Her cheeks flamed and she looked down at her lap, not daring to look at Alexis -

- Who was taking things a lot better than Kate. "Just gonna pretend I didn't see that," she teased, "god guys, get a room!" She laughed, taking the remainder of the plates to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Castle," she whispered.

"Seriously?" He said, suppressing a laugh. "She's fifteen, she's not stupid. In fact, she probably thinks a hell of a lot more has gone on than what actually has."

"Oh stop it," she groaned. "I don't need you to paint me a picture! I just..forgot where I was for a minute."

"No complaints here," he grinned and she shoved him playfully in the arm.

* * *

"Thanks for tonight, Castle," Kate smiled, "I had a really great time." Alexis had left them to it an hour ago, needing to study for a French exam. They'd retreated to the sofa with coffee and hadn't realised the time until Alexis called down that she was going to bed.

Castle was torn. He didn't want her to leave, not at all. He wanted her to stay and sleep wrapped up in his arms all night and wake up next to him tomorrow morning, but at the same time he didn't want to pressure her into anything. It had been a pretty big ask for her to come over and have dinner with his family this evening and he didn't want to ruin it all when they'd had such a good night.

His mind, however, had a different idea. "Stay." The word was out of his mouth before he could even comprehend what he was saying. "God I'm sorry, you should go. Oh and I've done it again, not that I want you to go but this is only our second date and I'm not saying anything would happen - not that I don't want it to but only when you're ready and I'm really screwing this up aren't I?"

Kate watched him with amusement has the words flew out of his mouth. "For someone who writes for a living you sure have problems saying what you mean sometimes, have you noticed that?"

"Only when it comes to you," he grumbled. "I've never been like this before."

She was falling for him. Oh who was she kidding, she'd already fallen for him - and hard. "Well, if what you were trying to say is that you'd like me to stay then I'd love to," she smiled, putting him out of his misery. "Besides, I need to know for sure that your tattoo says what you say it does."

"Oh really? Well then I guess you're going to have to examine me very closely.."

"I intend to," she drawled before capturing his lips with her own. Guess she was going to need her toothbrush after all.

* * *

Closing the door to her apartment, Kate sighed with relief that the day was over. It had been long and tiring and she was looking forward to nothing more than sinking into a hot bubble bath with a book. A Richard Castle book to be more precise.

He hadn't shown today, but she'd figured him out - when he got an idea he ran with it, she wouldn't be surprised if he'd locked himself in his office and written half of his next novel without realising it was now 9pm.

Memories of the previous night came flooding back and she grinned. Turns out he hadn't been lying - his tattoo did say 'Mr Castle' and so she could deny it no longer - she'd met her soulmate. She was almost jumping up and down squealing with joy - not that she did that, oh no.

They'd been up half the night but Kate had still had to get to work. She'd left early, leaving him tangled under the sheets, still half asleep. He'd mumbled out a goodbye and something about seeing her later but it didn't really make much sense. He had text when he was more awake though, saying he was outlining a new chapter and then he'd be in - but he hadn't showed. She wasn't worried - like she said, he'd probably written half the book.

Sinking into the bath, she heard her cell beep - a text from Castle. '_Hey you_,' it read, '_sorry I didn't show today, I got wrapped up! Hope you didn't miss me too much but never fear - I'll be back tomorrow!'_

She laughed and shook her head, he really was a child half the time. _'Oh, you didn't come in? I didn't notice ;)' _she typed back, _'no worries, hope you're okay and I'll see you tomorrow.'_

After relaxing in the bath for a bit, she climbed out and wrapped herself in a fluffy dressing gown before sinking into her bed and falling asleep - she didn't even notice the light was still switched on.

* * *

Kate woke early the next morning - a grin taking over her face when she remembered Castle was coming in again today. Boy she had it bad. Jumping up, she set the coffee machine to make her a cup before retrieving the newspaper that had been pushed through her door.

Sipping her coffee, she almost spat it out when she reached page six. Because right there in the middle of the page was Richard Castle - and he wasn't alone. Oh no, joining him in the photo was a very blonde woman with a very generous chest. And they looked pretty cosy.

Scanning the page and skimming over the accompanying story, Kate was bubbling with anger when she'd finished. The photo was captioned as being from last night and the article said he'd attended a book party for another author - with the busty blonde as his date.

* * *

**A/N: just as things were going well..reviews make me happy! **


	9. Chapter 9

Kate was spared from reading any further by a knock at the door. It wasn't until she was halfway to answering it that she realised it was only just 7am on a Friday morning - who the hell was at her door at this time? Still frowning slightly, she slid the bolt to unlock the door before swinging it open. It was Castle.

"Come away with me?" He said, pushing his way into her apartment.

Kate recoiled at his words. Was he drunk or something? "Castle, what are you talking about?"

"My house in the Hamptons," he told her impatiently. "It's quiet and secluded and I have a pool!" He added this last point as if it would make her suddenly agree to whatever the hell he was going on about right now.

Heading back to the kitchen, she glanced at her now cold coffee and picked up the paper she had been reading when he barged in. "Still think that's a good idea?" She said coldly as he took in what she was showing him. "Though I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time with little miss perfect," she spat out sarcastically.

"Oh, so you're agreeing to come with me then?" He said.

What? Hadn't she just said- "oh god, that was bad. Even for you, Castle," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Now, if there's nothing else then would you mind leaving, I have to get to work."

"Are you _naked_ under that dressing gown?" He choked out. He'd only just realised what she was wearing - around him she was either fully dressed or completely naked, he hadn't seen her in between side yet. But knowing she could be wearing _nothing_ under her dressing gown did funny things to his insides..

"Focus, Castle," she snapped and his eyes wandered her body. "On leaving, not on me."

"Leaving? I'm not leaving," he told her, as if he'd completely ignored everything she'd said to him since he got here. "Though I uh, should probably explain this, right?" He added, waving the paper around.

"There's nothing to explain, Castle. You went out with the busty blonde - had a great time by the looks of things, don't let me stand in your way." Even as she said the words she knew how much they hurt her. She'd fallen for him - not something she did often, if ever, and now she realised why - falling for a playboy womaniser was only ever going to end in tears - her tears.

"I didn't go out with her..well yeah, I was _out_ with her but I didn't _go_ out with her.." What? "Wait, I don't think that made sense..do you have coffee?"

She bit back her sarcastic remark and padded back to the kitchen, setting the coffee maker again. She could see he wasn't going to leave, not without getting the chance to tell his side of the story first. Setting his coffee in front of him and making one for herself too, she sat back down in preparation for his probably rehearsed story. "Okay, Castle, spit it out."

"Right, so I had this book party last night and I went alone - I did, you have to believe that," he added when she raised and eyebrow at him. "Anyway, Gina wasn't happy that I went without a date, said it wasn't good for the image or something..I don't know I gave up listening to her the day I married her. Anyway, I was about to leave and this blonde practically threw herself at me - conveniently just at the time the paparazzi were there to take the photo - I didn't even know it was in the paper until you just shoved it at me!" She still didn't say anything. "And that's it."

"Okay."

"That's all you have to say? Okay?"

"Well what do you want me to say, Castle? Do you want me to tell you it's all fine and that I can forget about it?" Even as she said it she knew she sounded like a jealous girlfriend. Well..that's what she was, wasn't it? There was one more thing, though.. "Why did you go without a date?" She asked.

"I.." It was obvious he hadn't been expecting that question. "Well..honestly to avoid the conversation we're having right now. If I'd taken a date, then wouldn't you have been upset?"

"I think I'm more upset at the fact you didn't ask _me_ to be your date, Castle," she spat out, desperately trying not to reveal the emotion in her voice.

Oh, so _that's_ why she was so angry? He couldn't help himself - he grinned.

"What is so funny?" She asked angrily. What the hell was he laughing at?!

"I just..never figured you'd even _want_ to go so I saved us both the trouble of you pretending to enjoy yourself and went alone." He took a deep breath, rubbing his hand over his stubble. "Look, Kate, I really, _really_ like you and taking you to that book party..well I just didn't want you to run five miles the opposite direction," he admitted.

As much as she wished it wasn't, his apology was actually working. "Why would you think I'd run?"

"Because that lifestyle..it isn't _you_, Kate," she raised an eyebrow at him again. "No no no, that's not a bad thing," he added hastily, "I just meant I wouldn't want to drag you there and have you hate every second of it. Hell, that lifestyle isn't even me! I much prefer nights in watching Firefly reruns with Alexis!"

"Firefly?" She asked, "seriously?"

"Hey, it's a good show!" He defended. "They cancelled it way too soon!"

"If you say so," she muttered - however she wasn't about to admit that she watched Nebula 9 reruns on a regular basis. "Okay, so you didn't invite me so I didn't feel uncomfortable..it's all very noble of you, Castle, but it would have been nice if you'd given me the choice.."

"I know," he admitted, "I can see that now and I'm very sorry. I promise I will involve you in any future decisions that may affect the both of us, okay?"

"Fine," she agreed reluctantly. A voice in the back of her head told her he could be lying through his teeth and playing her, but instinct told her he wasn't. It was stupid, she knew, to go on her gut with something as big as this..but then they did say everything changed when you met your soulmate. "But a busty blonde? Seriously?"

He pulled her into a tight hug which she returned. "I shall inform Gina that for any future arrangements she makes for women to throw themselves at me for the sake of publicity, the women need to be flat chested brunettes," he chuckled.

"No, you won't," she said calmly. "Because next time these an event like that, I hope you're going to ask your girlfriend to go with you."

"Oh, so you wouldn't feel uncomfortable then?" He asked, feeling a little confused.

"No, I would," she said, "but I've always wanted to meet Patterson," she added with a laugh.

"Oh Beckett, you wound me!" He sighed dramatically. "I thought you had better taste!"

"Write something as good as Alex Cross and maybe I will have," she shot back playfully.

"Challenge accepted," he grinned. His new character had already been born, she just needed a name.. "So, you'll come to the Hamptons with me?"

"Believe it or not, Castle, some of us can't just drop everything and head off to the Hamptons whenever we feel like it. I have to work, you know!" She reminded him. She wished she didn't have to - a weekend in the Hamptons sounded like absolute heaven, but she couldn't call in sick, she was a responsible detective, it just wasn't in her nature to do such things.

"It's Friday - call in sick, just for today. Are you working this weekend?"

"I can't call in sick. And no, I'm on call on Sunday but I'm not actually working. But if a body drops, I need to be there, I can't just leave! Never mind the amount of paperwork I have waiting for me - I was planning on making a dent in it tomorrow anyway."

"You work too much," he mumbled, pulling out his cell.

"Maybe you just don't work enough - what are you doing?"

He held up a finger to silence her and she folded her arms, offering him a stony glance. "Hi, Captain Montgomery, it's Rick Castle!"

"Castle," she hissed, "what the hell-" he pressed his finger against her lips and carried on.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you. Now, I was wondering if you could do me a favour?" A pause, presumably while Montgomery was asking what he wanted. "Would it be okay if Detective Beckett finished work a little early today? Say..2pm?"

Beckett leaped off of her seat and lunged for him, trying to wrestle the phone off of him. "Stop it, Castle!"

She heard her captain chuckle and say, "I take it you didn't tell her you were doing this?"

"No," Castle grinned. "And from the way she's looking at me now..well let's just say I'm glad looks can't actually kill."

"She never takes her vacation days," Montgomery revealed. "Tell you what - she can have the whole day. And I don't want to see either of you back in my precinct until Monday morning, okay?"

"Sounds perfect to me," Castle said, chancing a glance at Beckett. Who did _not_ look happy.

"And Rick?" Montgomery added. "Make sure she has some fun, will you?"

"I intend to, Captain, thank you," he said, putting his phone down and turning to Beckett.

"You called my boss," she growled. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Because you wouldn't," he said simply.

"Too right I wouldn't!" She replied angrily. "Castle, I have a job - one I'm expected to turn up to on a daily basis. You can't just call my boss and tell him you want to go away for the weekend and expect him to understand!"

"Well he did, didn't he? Look, Beckett, you work really hard and Montgomery even said you never take your vacation days. Besides, if we're going to spend the rest of our lives together then you're going to have to get used to me doing nice things for you." Honestly he couldn't work out what the big deal was. "He said you can take the whole weekend, he doesn't want to see you until Monday."

"Wait, he actually said that?" Beckett asked and Castle nodded. "So..I have three whole days with no work?"

He could have laughed at the childish humour lighting up her face. Even having a weekend off was making her day, it was adorable. "Yep. Three whole days. Imagine what we could get up to in that time," he winked. "So, are you finally agreeing to come to the Hamptons with me?"

"I um..yeah, I guess.." She shrugged. Well, what else was she going to do with three whole days off?

"Great!" He grinned, "so let's get packed. Oh my god you're going to love it! It's right on the beach and there's these incredible views and did I mention I have a pool?"

"Yes, Castle," she laughed, "you mentioned the pool. But what about Alexis?"

"Mother has whisked her away to a spa in Connecticut, they're gone all weekend. We could stay at mine but the weather is meant to be boiling, thought you'd appreciate the pool in the heat."

"Wow..it sounds..amazing!" She couldn't contain her excitment. "And uh, thanks, Castle," she smiled shyly. Despite her initial reservations, she was actually looking forward to a weekend away. Guess this was make or break time - this trip to the Hamptons would be a huge indicator to her as to if they would be able to make it work.

* * *

**A/N: unless I change my mind in the next few days, I'm thinking the next chapter will be the last.. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter :)**

**twitter - holaitsjade | tumblr - stanaabanana**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: kinda neglected this for a week - sorry about that! This is the final chapter - I'm going to mark it as complete once it's up, but I'm probably going to write an epilogue at some point - but I've got some catching up to do on other fics, so it might be a week or two before I get round to it!**

**Thank you for all of your reviews, you've all been so amazing and I don't think I've ever had so many positive reviews for a story, I think I only had one bad one and it currently stands at 152 - pretty happy with that so thank you!**

* * *

"This weekend has been truly amazing, Castle, thank you," Kate murmured into his shoulder as they led on the beach. It was early afternoon on Sunday and they had to head back to the city soon, much to both of their disappointments.

"You're welcome," he smiled, twisting his head to plant a kiss on her forehead. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, took me long enough to convince you to come!"

"Well if you'd actually asked me about accompanying you to that book party then it wouldn't have taken you so long, would it?" She teased, poking him in the ribs.

"Yes yes, I get it - no more going to book parties without consulting my gorgeous, incredible, smart and funny girlfriend."

"There's a thing called laying it on too thick, ya know?" She told him rolling her eyes.

"Not if it's all true," he quipped back and she couldn't hide her smile. She'd never before thought of herself as anything above ordinary, but Castle made her feel beautiful. He made her feel good about herself and when she was with him, she wondered how she had coped before he came along.

"But back to this weekend..it really has been perfect." They'd come up early on Friday morning, heading into town for a late breakfast together before Castle showed Kate the house. Or mansion, to be more precise. She had to struggle to stop her jaw dropping to the floor when they pulled up, it was _huge_! He'd shown her round, downstairs first before showing her the upstairs - they spent extra long looking in the bedroom, a few hours to be exact.

Early on Friday afternoon, they'd headed down to the pool, wiling away the hours chasing each other through the water and catching the sun, before going back up the house and making arrangements for dinner. They'd gone out that night, deciding on a small bistro in the village where they could have a quiet night together.

Saturday morning had found them wandering around the town, Castle pointing out some of his favourite spots to write, or places he and Alexis liked to go. Kate physically had to stop him from buying her a gorgeous pair of earrings she'd spotted in the window of a little boutique - she'd said that when you had to ask for the price, it meant they were too much. He'd argued and whined but she wasn't having any of it, dragging him back to his house to take his mind of off the earrings and onto something else.

After a light lunch in the house, they headed down to the beach - it had been ages since Kate had seen the ocean, watched the waves crash against the shore as the sun glistened in the distance. Castle had ruined the moment by throwing her over his shoulder and running full speed towards the sea, dropping her in when he got to waist height. When she emerged from the water, coughing and spluttering, she noticed a few other couples on the beach were watching them intently - and some of the women looked at her with what looked an awful lot like jealousy. She'd actually felt pride at that - they were jealous of her, of the man she got to call hers and something about that made her feel good.

After drying off and burying each other in the sand like kids, they'd gone back up the house with Castle saying he had a surprise for her. As much as she tried, he wasn't saying what, just that she had to dress to impress - she suspected he'd planned this, given that her dark purple cocktail dress - one of the only dressy dresses she owned - was packed neatly in her bag, and she certainly hadn't put it there.

She found him waiting for her in the kitchen - looking particularly handsome in a black tux. Wow, they really must be going somewhere special. With Castle still maintaining a silence on their plans for the evening, she gave up and just went with it.

It turned out his surprise had been dinner upon a yacht. They'd been driven by a chauffeur to the marina, where Castle had taken her hand and led her aboard the yacht, Beckett speechless the entire time. Nobody had ever done anything like this for her before, a girl could sure get used to being treated like that.

Castle had hired the yacht from a friend - she was a little relieved to know it wasn't his, she tried not think about the money as it was. He'd also hired a private chef, along with waiting staff so neither of them had to worry about a thing, just sitting and enjoying themselves as the yacht floated out to sea.

It had been a perfect night and Beckett knew then that she was falling in love with him, which scared the life out of her. She suspected he felt the same, but he hadn't said anything. It was fast..some would say too fast but it wasn't, not really. The last few weeks since they'd met had been a whirlwind to say the least, but finally meeting the man she was destined to spend the rest of her life with was a dream she never imagined could be so perfect.

And here they were, enjoying their last few moments together on the beach before heading back to reality and back to work. "I guess we better head back and sort our stuff out," Beckett grumbled, making no effort to move.

"Five more minutes," Castle said, "just give me five more minutes to prep myself to leave."

"You sound like you don't want to leave," Beckett laughed. "Don't you miss Alexis?"

"Of course I do but it's not like I've left her at home alone, we'll probably be back before her."

"How come you've never moved out here?" Kate wondered aloud. "Surely you could write here?"

"I could and I did think about it but I couldn't do it, I love the hustle and bustle of the city too much." Not to the mention the fact that now that he'd found his soulmate, he wasn't leaving her, not ever.

"I know what you mean," Kate agreed, "I don't think I could ever leave Manhatten, not for good." Or him. She knew from this moment on that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man, come hell or high water she wasn't letting go of that. "Come on, we need to go," she sighed finally, jumping up and brushing off the sand from her legs. Castle made no effort to move and stayed where he was, eyes roaming Beckett's body with appreciation.

"Stop it, you perv," she laughed, throwing her towel at him.

God he loved her. He had been arguing with himself all day as to whether he should tell her, but he hadn't so far, he was a coward. The only thing stopping him was the fear that she'd run away and he'd lose her forever, he didn't want to tell her too soon and ruin everything.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked and he realised he'd been staring at her the whole time he'd been having his thoughts on telling her how he felt.

Now would be a good time, then they could go back to the city and she could have her space but he had the journey back to gauge how she was reacting to the news. She made to pull her dress on over her bikini but he jumped up and stopped her. "Kate, wait," he said and she stopped to look at him inquisitively. "I need to tell you something.."

"That sounds ominous," she laughed nervously. They'd had a good weekend - hadn't they?

"I um..god I don't even know if I should be saying this but I'm taking a chance and hoping it's the right thing to say because if it's not then I don't even want to think about the consequences and-"

"Castle," she interrupted loudly. "If you want us to get back to the city sometime today then you're going to need to spit it out."

"I love you," he blurted out and braced himself for her reaction, clamping his eyes shut.

She watched him blurt the words out and squeeze his eyes shut, apparently waiting for her to shout at him or hit him or something. Jesus he was adorable. She didn't shout at him and she didn't hit him, instead she bounced up on tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck and planted her lips over his.

His surprise only lasted a second, before he responded in kind, kissing her back just as passionately.

"So..it was the right thing to say?" He grinned as she pulled away.

"Yeah, Castle," she smiled back. "And I'm not going to say it now because I'm not one of those people who will say it back straight away, not the first time. But yeah, it was the right thing to say."

Oh god, was she saying..oh my, yes she was. Castle could hardly contain his joy at the insinuation she had just made, this day couldn't get any better.

"Now come on," she laughed, "we have to shower and get rid of all this sand before we get back in the car."

"Might as well save time and shower together," Castle added nonchalantly but Beckett didn't miss his little smirk.

* * *

"Can I ask you a question?" Beckett asked in the car on the way back home. They hadn't actually talked about who's place they were going back to, or if they were going home separately but Beckett had decided she'd let Castle figure that one out.

"Technically you just did but sure, you can ask me anything you like," he grinned, placing his free hand on her thigh and squeezing lightly. He made to move his hand away again but she placed hers over his and kept it on her leg.

"Um..honestly what did you think when you realised I was your soulmate?"

"That I was the luckiest man on earth," he replied simply, giving her leg another squeeze.

"I'm trying to be serious here, Castle," she groaned, rolling her eyes.

"So am I. I'm not joking, Beckett, I thought all my birthdays and Christmases had come at once. I didn't realise it at first because so many people had said those words to me, but when I realised what I'd said to you was your tattoo, I was over the moon." He looked over to her and then back at the road before continuing. "I can tell that every time I pay you a compliment you brush it off and get all shy and it's really kinda adorable, but I don't say it for that, I say it because I honestly think you're the most beautiful, intelligent, funny and perfect woman I've ever met. If I have to spend the rest of my life proving that to you then so be it, if that's what it takes then I'll do it."

"Thank you, Castle," she whispered. No one had ever said anything so sweet to her before and she could tell he meant every word. "So now I guess you want to know what I thought?" He nodded at her, a cheeky smile appearing on his face. "So I'm not going to lie, I couldn't really stand you." They both chuckled at that. "But even I couldn't deny the attraction between us.."

"Tell me about it," he replied, "you could practically light fireworks on the sparks between us when we first met!"

"And I was a bit worried that it was just sexual tension but uh..I guess it's not," she grinned.

"No, definitely not," he said resoundedly. "There's a hell of a lot more to it than that."

"So um, even though I couldn't stand you when we first met, I soon realised you're not really like that, that underneath the playboy womaniser, there's a caring, smart, kind hearted and wonderful man and I'm so very lucky that he's all mine."

"You might have to share me with Alexis but apart from that, I'm all yours," he grinned.

"I think I can deal with that," Beckett laughed, "I'm lucky that my boyfriend has such a great kid - one who seems to like me, too."

"Why wouldn't she like you?" He asked and Beckett raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so she hasn't liked all of my..dates before but I knew she'd like you, you're special."

They continued the rest of their journey happily, making small talk and sharing secret glances at each other when they could. Getting back to the city, they pulled up at Beckett's apartment and the realisation hit that she was going to have to say goodbye. Climbing out of the car, she tried not to let her disappointment show as she went to retrieve her bag from the boot.

"What are you doing?" Castle asked and she sent him a puzzled look. "Leave it in there, we're only here so you can grab some clean clothes - we can take your bag back to mine and I'll put the washing on." He said all of this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh..okay."

"What, you don't want to come back with me?" He asked, looking slightly crestfallen.

"Oh no, of course I do! I just didn't want to assume!"

"You're always welcome, Beckett, you know that. And if you think I'm letting you go after this weekend then you're in for a shock."

"Castle," she said as they headed to the elevator.

"Yeah?" He said, stepping in and pressing the button for her floor.

"I love you."

He turned to face her, the biggest grin on his face that she'd ever seen. "It wasn't the most romantic of places to say-"

He cut her off with a kiss and she grinned against his lips. "It's perfect," he growled. "I don't care when you say it, you can tell me whenever you feel like it."

"I love you," she repeated with a grin. Now that she'd said it she wouldn't be able to stop.

"I love you too, Kate. God I love you so much!"

"We're gonna be alright, aren't we?" She asked, the remainder of her doubts slipping away.

"Always, Kate." He knew as he said it he'd never felt so sure of anything in his life - and Beckett knew that neither had she.

* * *

**A/N: and we're done! Once again thank you so much to every one who has reviewed, followed and favourited - it means a lot! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this final chapter and I'll try and get an epilogue up in the next few weeks!**


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